001Call this budget hearing number two to order. And first I need a motion to approve the agenda. >> Miss Parish, Mr. Tulle. All in favor? >> Passes 40. Presentations and discussions. Technology. Mr. McCullers. >> Thank you. Feels kind of weird going first today. So, >> good afternoon everyone. Board members, Dr. Butler. Coney County Schools Technology Services Board of Education report for May 28th includes no information items and one action item for the June 15th regular session. Today's action item is involving interactive panels. This school year, we've completed significant work related to interactive panels. Our efforts began with a pilot program to identify the best hardware solutions for our teachers and students and expanded to the replacement of more than 25 year old interactive equipment in kindergarten through second grade classrooms, activity classrooms, and special education
002spaces. Joining me this evening, I have Miss Aaron Bowen and Miss Miriam Shook, two of our elementary instructional technology specialists. They will take a few minutes now to demonstrate the innovative instructional features now available in the classrooms through the implementation of our updated interactive panel model. And we're going to get y'all to come down and actually participate. >> Oh, excellent. >> Be like, man, why? >> So, I'm gonna pass pass it over to Miriam and to uh and to Aaron. >> We are very excited to give you a glimpse into what students learn best. problem and we are going to showcase a few things and also an app that is very >> [laughter] >> It's all that lotion you have on your hands, right? That smelly stuff. What was your favorite color? So the cool
003thing about it, thinking at the same time. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> So when you're thinking about multiple ways to interact, think about how your students engaged. So this could look like this could be building its endless. But the thing about the new channel is this is really fit for [laughter] >> It's not bad. It's not bad. >> That's [laughter] >> [laughter] >> So that we want to show we're going to show you when you buy your iPhone that has types which are amazing. augment. So this more than seven kindergartivience and we figured Just use your fingers. So what you're going to do when we start the activity on [laughter] it instant feedback so you'll know how your card. Now, the objective is to beat your opponent. >> Think about your kids engaging in this. They're
004working together. >> [laughter] >> learning. >> All right, great. [laughter] I think this is very good. So this is future. There is a cable that doesn't connect to really teachers options. K2s. >> [laughter] >> Yes. Some of our So, we have a 10 year warranty on these. So, we're excuse me, sevenyear warranty, but we're expecting at least 10 years out of these >> before software updates and everything. So, um the we caught the pricing at a very good time. So, very happy with this model in particular. You hit the nail on the head about it being a standalone device separate from the teacher laptop, which is key. That's been a game changer because teachers are sometimes tethered to their smartboards or to their projectors and they can't if they're running a small group separate from
005what's on the on the panel. It's hard to hard to manage that. So, this is really >> That's right. That's exactly correct. >> That's right. Best way to describe school. So we did a pilot roll So we installed in March. We all know But our goal was just able to show what they were showing. So far, hey, >> you would love to see Y'all just experience the You also experience what the future. >> Yes, that's right. Thank you. Thank y'all so much for for doing that. So based on based on the success of this interactive panel refresh, we would like to continue implementation at an additional grade level to evaluate the effectiveness and instructional impact of the current panels in upper elementary classrooms. We are proposing the installation of interactive panels this summer in all
006third grade classrooms. This expansion will extend our interactive model to K through three now as well as art, music, PE, STEM, media center, and special education spaces. These additional classroom devices directly support the district strategic plan performance objective of improving student engagement, achievement, and growth by providing teachers and students with modern interactive instructional tools that enhance lesson delivery and student participation. Howard Industries has secured a state contract with the Georgia Department of Administrative Services for audiovisisual equipment and related services including interactive panels. Under this state contract, Okone County Schools plans to purchase an additional 32 75 in Qro interactive panels. The proposal includes the removal of any existing whiteboard, installation of new panels, and recycling of any outdated equipment. Superintendent's recommendation is for the board of education to approve Howard Industries with a bid of
007$80,15 for the purchase and installation of 32 interactive panels at the June 15th regular session. This project will be funded using eslass and general fund dollars. And with that, that concludes the technology services report, unless you have any questions. >> Questions? >> Thank you, Mr. Colers. Thank you so much. Thank you, ladies. >> Next, we have the purpose of the budget hearing, Mr. Adams. Uh good afternoon board members and Dr. Butler. Uh we do have some handouts available at the back of the room for reference for today. I do want to remind everyone of the purpose of the hearing. The Aon County Board of Education has tenatively adopted the fiscal year 27 budget. Georgia law requires that the budget be advertised after the board of education adopts the tenative budget and prior to final adoption.
008The board is required to hold two public hearings for the purpose of providing an opportunity for public input prior to the tenative budget being adopted. On the screen, you will see our budget calendar. We presented the tenative budget to the board on May 5th and again on May 11th. Following that presentation and discussion, the board adopted the fiscal year 27 budget. The first budget hearing was on Thursday, May 21st, 2026 at 4 pm in the board meeting room in the instructional support center, 71 North Main Street in Watkinsville. The second budget hearing is today, May 28, 2026 at the same time and location. And final adoption of the tenative full millage roll back rate is tenatively scheduled for August 10th, 2026. Before reviewing, it's important to highlight some of Aon County schools homestead exemptions for
009Aon County residents. Voters approved these updates during the May 21st, 2024 primary election, increasing tax relief, and simplifying the process for homeowners. The key changes included an increased exemption from 2,000 to 5,000 for county and schools. And in 2035, this again will increase to 10,000. At age 65, property values are now automatically frozen for tax purposes. And at age 75, home homeowners receive an additional $10,000 exemption. These changes became effective January 1st, 2025 and apply to both county and school district taxes. And as I mentioned in our April regular session, Coney County Schools received a five-star FES rating. And this slide compares our fiscal year 25 local per pupil expenditures across our recent peers. And as you can see, Aone County is currently ranked 10th out of 13 districts. Uh this place in the lower
010third of comparable districts and our low lower per pupil expenditure reflects disciplined stewardship of taxpayer dollars for Coney County Schools. This recognition reflects a continued commitment to strong student achievement. responsible budgeting and excellent stewardship of taxpayer dollars as OCS continues to provide a strong return on investment for the Aon County community. While OCS continues to provide a strong return on investment for the Aon County community, the fiscical year 27 budget development process also required the district to make significant reductions and adjustments to maintain long-term financial stability. The following slide outlines the significant reductions included in the fiscal year 27 tenative budget. Overall 14 total OCS employees. This would have been 23 if not for the bill that was for literacy that added nine coaches for us. Um that is in there. So that would have
011been 23. But that and of the nine coaches, two of those are going to be federally funded. U this will be accomplished through attrition only. So nobody will be fired or let go of their position. And again, this slide reflects an overall reduction in the fiscal year 27 budget of 3.27% or approximately $431,000. And again, I would like to recognize our staff and leadership teams for their work in identifying thoughtful targeted reductions for this budget. This was not a simple exercise and these adjustments reflect an intent decision-making to protect core service while improving efficiencies. Next, I'd like to talk about the SRO program. The SRO program is not being cut and current school safety support is not being reduced. Rather, the fiscical year 27 plan refle reflects a thoughtful refinement of the program and budget
012based on actual staffing levels, current needs, and our responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. The fiscical year 27 budget funds 14 SRO positions, which is three more SRO than Aone County Schools had in place at any point during this past school year. This plan allows us to maintain strong safety support across our schools while aligning the budget with realistic staffing and operational needs. The SRO program continues to be an important partnership among Aon County schools, the sheriff's office, and the board of commissioners. And this refinement reflects ongoing collaboration among all three groups to ensure the program remains effective, sustainable, and responsible to the needs of our schools, students, and staff. Again, we appreciate the continued partnership with the sheriff's office and the county commissioners and working collaboratively to manage these costs. >> Does
013anybody have any questions about the SRO program? >> I have a follow-up question for that, Peter. So, I've heard that a little bit over the past week, you know, cuts to the SRO program, but really that's only half the story without a lot of context. When we were there about a year and a half ago, when this board is the board that approved SRO's to come into the school because we prioritize that and think it is such an important move, it was up to 16. That's correct. So can you talk a little bit about how these savings were made as we collaborated with our county partners and also you know what has that staffing looked like over the past year and then in the coming year will every school have an SRO? >> Yes, thank
014you. So the good question so when we originally did theou was for 16 and this past year we we never had more than 11 at the schools. So this next year we will have a SRO in every school. you have 14 positions. And basically what it did was it looked at we're not going to do 14, you're going to do instead of 16, you're going to do 14. So the savings you're realizing is on the positions, their benefits that go associated with them, their supply costs that go with them. So those are the things that associated that brought that cost down. So we're again, we're not cutting positions. It's just a realistic look at the appropriate budget dollars for what we realize we think realize will be the funds needed for that position to cover
015it for next year. >> Well, and from the get-go, you know, we've been very intentional about we're not law enforcement experts. We trust the the feedback from our partners for that. And you know, it seems like with this overall program, we can meet the need where it is. And right now, the need is for those 14 SRO's as we move into the next year. So, >> right. And you'll have one SRO at every school and two supervisory positions to go along with those 12. So, that'll be your 14. >> And is there room in the future if a need did arise to go up to 16 or 15 or whatever >> potentially we could go back and we'll revisit that with y'all and them at that point if there's realistically the need that would would
016drive that to go back up. Yes, sir. Okay. Um this slide illustrates our staffing reductions aligned with the enrollment trend declines we've experienced in Aone County. This represents a net 30 positions which again would have been 39 if not for the literacy coaches uh reflecting the district's ongoing efforts to rightsize staffing in response to student population trends and maintain a fiscal balance for the fiscical year 2017 tenative budget. New mandatory budget requirements include health insurance increases, teachers retirement increases, 18% increase in utility cost, and our increase that we're expecting in our local fair share QBE withholdings. Our first mandatory requirement is the state health insurance increase. The governor's proposed budget included an increase in employer health insurance contribution for both certified and classified rates. The House and Senate finalized proposal includes the employer rate increasing
017from $18.85 a month to 1935 a month starting July 1st, 2026 for a cost of 305,000. Again, that so that what that means for a Coney County that's 23,222 per employee that we have to pay for insurance. And I'd just like you to note too that in the budget for the state, state agencies had a 9% reduction for health insurance costs for state agencies. So to provide some context, if you have a custodian like we have at our schools versus say Athens or Athens Tech and they're both making about $40,000, the cost for Athens Tech is going to be about $8,100 versus our $23,220. So that's highlighting that significantly higher benefit cost school districts must absorb. So just wanted you to keep keep that aware of that if folks ask you. This slide shows the
018history of health insurance increases to the classified employer contributions. Since 2012, the local cost for health insurance has increased $6.8 million. Our second requirement for the fiscical year 27 tenative budget is the teachers retirement increase. The governor's proposed budget included an increase in the TRS employer percentage contribution from 21.91% to 22.32%. for a cost of $248,000. Again, this slide shows the history of TRS employer rate increases. Since 2011, TRS employee contributions have increased over $5.9 million for certified staff. So, if you add those two together, you're about $ 122.7 million in cost increases, mandatory increases from the state. We've decided that we're we're going to skip the video today. I know how much you all enjoyed it, but we do have it available on our website, but it does give great context on how schools
019are funded and the relationship that the state has and their their portion of the QBE. And it really talks about our local fair share, which I'm going to talk a little bit more about next. The local fair share is the required local contribution within the Georgia quality basic education funding formula. It represents the baseline level of local effort expected from each school district as part of the participation in the state funding system. Again, it's your required contribution equal to five mills of property tax. It's been part of the formula since 1985 and the formula has not changed since 1985, but it also ensures that local participation in local education funding. So, you have to be in it to participate. McConey County's local fair share has increased consist consistently due to growth in local property tax
020digest and rising wealth factors within Georgia's QBE formula. Local fair share has grown by $6.6 million representing an 84% total increase with an average average annual growth rate of approximately 9 to 10%. And as local fair share increases, the state reduces QBE earnings proportionately, reflecting the assumption that local communities have greater capacity to fund education through local resources. This next slide is just a history of local fair share showing the increase I mentioned of 6.6 million from 2020 to 2027. The fiscical year 27 tenative budget includes an increase in state local fair share QB withholdings of 730,000 for a total of 14.4 million for 27. Additional considerations for the tenative fiscal year 27 budget are salary enhancements, school food nutrition program and salary improvements. Our first consideration for the fiscal year 27 tenative budget is
021salary scale enhancements for our TST2s and nurses and our athletic coaches supplements for a total of $399,000 to support our recruitment and retention efforts in these critical areas. After reviewing salary studies, these areas were targeted as high priorities for consideration. Our second consideration for the fiscical year 27 tenative budget is our projected school nutrition revenue shortfall of approximately 250,000. To address this gap, the district is implement implementing a combination of menu adjustments and targeted price increases. And this increase it reflects a 25 cent increase to meal prices to help recoup cost. To fully offset these funds, the meal prices would have needed, excuse me, would have needed to increase by approximately 75 cents. However, we didn't feel that would increase would place too great a burden on our Coney County families. These actions are expected
022to offset the anticipated shortfall while maintaining quality meal services for students. The school nutrition nutrition program is being proactively managed to remain financially stable without requiring additional general fund support. Our third consideration is 2% salary improvement for all of Coney County school staff. This adjustment is intended to support employee retention and remain competitive in our regional market. Our staff are our most valuable resources and compensation is a key factor in maintaining a high quality workforce. This slide shows a history of pay improvements for the school district for the last 11 years, including what has been proposed for fiscal year 27. Here we have a summary of all requirements and considerations for the fiscical year 27 tenative budget with expenditures of 2.9 million. It also has a note on there that you see about the local
023fair share and the anticipated increase in our utility increases. Next is our tax digest overview. This slide shows the history of the tax digest which has experienced steady growth since 2014. The fiscal year tenative budget is based on a projected growth of about 3% resulting in an estimated tax tax digest value of $3.9 billion. The fiscal year 2027 continuation budget totals 119.5 million representing the cost to maintain current programs, staffing levels, and operational commitments from the prior year. An additional 2.9 is included to address mandatory increases and adjustments for the upcoming fiscal year. Combining both components results in total projected expenditures of 122.5 million reflecting the full scope of anticipated funding needs for fiscal year 2027. So how are we going to pay for this? The current millage rate is 13.962 mills with a proposed
024full roll back rate of 13.813 813 mills based on preliminary data from the tax commissioner. This this reflects the calculated full roll back required under state law to remain revenue neutral. The district's estimated total fund balance as of June 30th is 54.6 million, reflecting a strong overall financial position. And after accounting for committed and assigned funds, the estimated unassigned fund balance is 32.7, providing flexibility to support cash flow, financial stability, and unforeseen needs. The 12 million in is in committed fund balance is dedicated to the series 2021 general obligation bond reflecting legally committed resources for previously approved capital financing. This will be repaid for from Eastbloast if and when the funds are available. The assigned fund balance is designated for specific plan uses until East Bloss collections become available, allowing the district to move forward
025with projects without issuing additional bonds. This approach provides flexibility to begin critical capital projects while maintaining financial stability and avoiding the need for additional debt. The remaining portion of assigned funds includes a little over two million for projected budget shortfall, reflecting anticipated needs built into current financial planning to ensure a balanced operations. The estimated unassigned fund balance at 6:30 2026 provides a strong beginning position entering fiscal year 27 with projected revenues of 120.6 million and expenditures of 122.5. The budget reflects a planned use of fund balance to support operations while maintaining that fiscal stability. The estimating unassigned fund balance at 63027 is 30.9 million reflecting a planned and controlled reduction while still maintaining a reserve level in case of unforeseen needs or financial fluctuations. And we all know what happened in north of Coney with
026our water line there sewer that collapsed on us and we had to replace that. So, and that ended up being about 900 feet of pipe that needed to replace underground. So, those are those unforeseen things we just don't know that could pop up. This slide shows the district's tenative average monthly expenditures of 9.7 million with the estimated beginning fund balance equating to approximately 3.3 months of operating expenses. And just as a reminder, best business practices recommend maintaining three to six months of reserves while supports financial stability and the ability to manage those unforeseen circumstances. Next is our tentative budget for federal funds which includes 6.3 million anticipated revenues and expenditures. This represents about 5.2% of the overall budget. It includes on average nine grant programs. And again, these are reimbursement based, meaning we have to
027outlay the funds and wait for reimbursement. And as I mentioned, the state's going to a new uh accounting system. So there's going to be a delay built in based on the dates that they're providing with us for the one times we could draw per month until the system's up and running. So just that that's next year when they plan that. It's been multiple years in the coming, but they're finally pulling the trigger for July 1 to do that. And that concludes my presentation unless the board has any questions. >> I'm sorry to take you back, Peter, but I have a QBE question that I didn't ask when you're on that slide. Can you talk a little bit more about, you know, because I think that's an area where whenever we are out talking to people
028and taxpayers and parents, that's always something that surprises them that the first five mills that are collected don't even come here at all. We have to send that away. So talk a little bit more about where that goes and do we see any kind of return at all from that. >> So what it is and if you look at this sheet right here, this is our allotment sheet. So it's really not they we send the money in. It's just a withholding against what our QB earnings actually are. So in this case where we were scheduled to earn 74 million, you put that 14 million against it. Your net is the 60 million that you'll actually receive funding on throughout the fiscal year. So, it's a it's a credit basically that against what your earnings are.
029>> Great. And you mentioned that's from 1985. That's correct. >> A lot of great things happened that year. I'll just say that. >> I graduated high school, sir. [laughter] >> I won't say what I was doing 1985, but um what opportunities over the years that's a state >> lawmaker thing. So, what opportunities over the years have there been to make adjustments or changes to that knowing that that does not live in this building? They've talked about changes a lot. They just have not done anything. So, I know the the new law that passed Senate Bill 33. Um there's there's a study committee on there for looking at changing the funding formula. My my understanding is when they come back next session, they'll probably retweak that how they do that. But Dr. Belair, >> yeah, I
030think one thing to note too is that in that funding formula, there is no funding provided by the state for classified positions for the most part. So, custodians, secretarial, administrative positions, pair professionals, those types of um positions come strictly from local taxpayer dollars. >> And my last thought is really, and this is the third time you've given us this presentation, so thank you for this. Learn something every time, which is great. But it's really a reflection, the budget is a reflection of smart governance to me because you have identified the needs in our community and you've met those needs. And you've done that by not laying off any staff, by maintaining the opportunities with our SRO program. We we're meeting the needs there. We're going to have a SRO at every school, which is very
031important with their supervisor. And on top of that, we're also able to make smart savings and give taxpayers a full roll back two years in a row. And you told me before last year, you couldn't even remember the last time we did a full roll back. >> Last year was the lowest in 35 years. I don't even think that was a full roll back when they did it, but it's been the lowest in about 30 35 years. >> Great. Well, I think that's a reflection of a lot of great work. So, thank you all for that and uh we appreciate it. >> We appreciate your support. Thank you. >> Any other questions, comments once again. Good job. Thanks, Mr. >> Thank you. >> Other communications, Mr. Caul, >> Mr. Ransom, we have no citizen signed
032up to speak today. Thank you sir. >> We do have a need to enter executive session. I need a motion to do so. >> I'll make a motion that the board will adjourn to executive session to discuss or deliberate matters as described on the affidavit to be attached to the minutes. >> Thanks. Need a second. Second. Mr. Hammond. All in favor? Passes 40. We're journ executive session.